Out of sight
by Leil
Summary: Elle is a pretty avarage girl, who came to live with her father once again juts o find her new neighbours rather peculiar, and fourther on many things about her own family too.
1. Arrival

**Author note: hey this is my first story, I'm not a native English speaker so I apologize beforehand for any grammar mistakes, also hope you like it and if anyone could help me a Little to improve my writing skills I would appreciate it very much ^^!**  
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My names is Elle Taylor, I'm 17 years old and at the moment I'm moving with my father, ever since my mother and father divorced me and my twin sister, Alice have been moving every few years from one to another, a few months ago Alice decided to finish up her high school at a intern school in England while I moved back to my father's house in the states.

I walked out of the air port running trough the light rain to get a cab when I saw my father, uncle and both my cousins Drake and Mike waiting for me outside waving like crazy at me, the four tall men where easy to notice among the crowd. The four of them where incredibly alike: the first one to catch my eye was Mike he is a year younger than me and I can barely reach his shoulder now, he is the only one out of the four that doesn't have black, but a reddish brown hair and honey eyes, his feature had gotten much more sharp than they were the last time I was here, at his left was my uncle Bill who wasn't as tall or toned as his two sons but was still pretty big for me, he had his dark hair down to his shoulder and dark brown eyes just like his older son Jake who resembled to his father the most while Mike looked much more like his mom and right next to Jake was my dad, smiling and waving happily.

It was like a day hadn't passed since I last saw him, he seemed just as childish and lively as always, as I got closer a noticed my aunt Grace was with them too, she is a slender woman, with light brown eyes and long wavy red hair, as soon as I reached them Jake caught me in a tight hug lifting me a little from the floor , I couldn't help but laugh a little as he squished me tightly, the rain got heavier so we left the proper greetings for later, we jumped on Grace's mini-van and drove to the outsides of town to the small house complex we all lived in, as we drove by the main street of the complex I noticed how it had expanded by a few houses and y managed to se trough the rain a couple of houses at the end of the street quite isolated from the rest.  
We drove into my uncles drive way right across the street from my father's house

-what's up with those houses?- I asked grace as we set the table.

-they're a small community that moved here a few months ago- Grace said disappearing trough the kitchen door, I looked back at my father for further explanation

-they are a big group of people, they are tree siblings and their respective partners who take care of everything, they took in different people with them, they have a bunch of kids living with them now.-

Graces brought in the food and we sat down, after dinner we took some time with Jake and Mike to catch up, after the rain became much lighter the doorbell rang and Grace went up to open the door, I heard a couple voices and two people came in, fist a woman came in taking the hood of her gray coat of letting her golden locks fall over her slender shoulders, she leaned to greet Grace and walked in and towards her

- Hello, you must be Elle! I'm Lyla Cole, its so nice to meet you- her voice sweet and endearing. I couldn't help but smile at her, right behind her a Tall man with bright green eyes and dark brown hair smiled right at me. Lyla looked at him and back at him.

-this is my husband Evan- she said

-It's a real pleasure to finally meet you, your father has been talking about you the whole week- he said reaching out to shake my hand, his hand was cold but I supposed it was because of the weather outside compared to a living room filled with people, the two of them where so polite and nice I couldn't help but think they just couldn't be real; A while later, when I could barely stay awake we want back home, I went to my room in the second store of the house where I usually slept.

Dad had changed the decoration it had 4 years back and was now much more simple, the walls were white and the floor was now wood, and the window now was much bigger than before.

-is this al you brought?- dad said bringing my two middle-sized bags

- hmm yup- I said putting them by my closet, just taking put some pajama pants and a shirt

-hm… you need more clothes…-

-its ok dad I'm fine like this for now…I just want to go to bed now-

-we could go to the mall tomorrow if you want- he kept on dribbling on and on not listening as usual until y pushed him out of the room giggling a little

- we'll talk tomorrow, good night- I laid down under the covers and feel asleep as soon as my head touched the pillow.

**Well that's all for now…its not very thrilling I know, but its just the first chapter so if you have any sort of comment about my writing or some way you think I could improve the next chapter please tell me! I really want to know!**


	2. Neighbors

The sun came through the window by my bed earlier tan I'd expected, I could've swore I closed the black out the night before,_ I was very tired so maybe I just thought I did_, I explained to myself as I sat up and tried to remember what I had dreamed last night taking my little dream diary put of my bag, I remember Dad telling me my grandmother send it to me the last time I was here and the idea had grown on me so now I wrote my dreams every morning before doing anything else.

the little book was almost full and the used pages were a bit wrinkled making the little notebook look twice as big as it had been once, I flipped through the pages staring at little drawings I had done but quickly went back to finding an empty page before my dream went back into my subconscious to never be recalled again, I closed my eyes en rested my back on the bed frame trying to recall as many details as I could before I began to write.

I was at home, the furniture was very modern in some parts of the large room I stood in, I couldn't recognize anything from it, but somehow I knew it was my house, there were several stacks of CDs, several books lying around the wooden floor, a couple of black beanbags in a corner , a messily made king sized bed and several windows facing a forest, I walked towards the wall across from the biggest window, staring at pictures of blurry people, not that I couldn't remember how they looked…they were just white smudges in every single picture that almost covered completely a wall, I started detailing the pictures better noticing that in every new picture that caught my eye there was a certain person who became detailed, first the clothes, he was obviously a man but of course he was wearing different outfits in every picture, then his skin started to fill the smudges in the paper, it had a creamy color on some of the pictures and in others it was almost white, his hair started to became clear then, raven locks framed the sharp shapes of his milky skin longer on the front and shorter on his neck, his face became clearer with every new picture I saw, his straight nose, his thin rosy lips shaped in bright smiles in every picture before me, finally his eyes, sharp almost as if glaring, I kept on staring at the pictures as I felt his emerald orbs fallowed my every movement, then something moved behind me, I didn't hear or see it from the corner of my eye but I knew, I turned around to find the man from the pictures lying on one of the beanbags holding a book in his pale hands, he was even more stunning than in the pictures and jet he remained as still as if he was a picture himself, I walked towards him slowly hitting a stack of CDs on my way, the noise startled me but he seemed to be only slightly disturbed from his reading as he slowly looked up from the book towards me, his eyes bright and clear stared at me with a blank expression, I moved closer reaching my hand towards him as if I were to touch his hand that imitated my gesture but as soon as I was about to touch him everything became bright and it was then when the sun woke me up.

I sighted as I finished writing down and sketched messily the layout of the room, I love drawing it's just too bad I can't draw a human figure even if my life depended on it; I jumped out of bed and out of my room, I heard the sound of metal crashing against metal softly coming from a closer room so I fallowed the noise to find my Dad and Jake working out on the small gym my dad installed on one of the several rooms the house had empty.

"Morning" I said rubbing my eye a little catching their attention  
"hey, had a good night?" Jake said walking towards me with his usual smile  
"yeah, I love that bed" I said smiling back and starching a little  
"who wants some breakfast?" Mike's voice came from downstairs, the tree of us didn't even reply just ran down stairs fallowing the smell of scrambled eggs and bacon.  
"Ellie! You're up "the redhead said smiling at me as he took an extra plate of the counter and placed it on the table.  
"It's hard to stay in bed with this smell all around the house" I said looking around for a glass that later Jake handed me.  
"God you people know my house better than I do! " I said pouring some orange juice in the glass ant sitting in the place Mike guided me to, both of them chuckled a bit  
"well we've spent more time here than you so there's nothing weird about it" Mike said placing a couple of slices of bacon, scrambled eggs and a toast in my plate.  
"Thanks, this looks great!" I said happily, it had been quite a while since I ate anything little Mike made but he had always been a great cook even when we were kids, he was the only one who actually read the instructions of the magic oven me and Alice had back then, and was the only one who actually waited for the light bulb to cook whatever we felt like cooking that day before waiting the raw dough like Jake did. They were very different now that I thought of it, Jake was laud and hyperactive at all times while Mike was much more focused and calm, they could both be obnoxious when they wanted to but that was another story.  
"hmmmm…this is great, it's at times like this that I wonder how did I settle for my mom's cooking instead of this" I said as I whacked Jake's hand with the back of my fork as he tried to steal some of my bacon, smiling at Mike who just smiled back making some mores scrambled eggs for his insanely hungry brother.

After breakfast I washed my plate and helped Mike with some of the cleaning right before I went upstairs to take a shower, I walked back to my room and took a pair of skinny dark blue jeans, a red tank top and a while button up shirt from one of my bags and got dressed leaving the shirt as a light jacket since there were no clouds in the sky, I went back downstairs to find Jake in the living room dressed on a pair of jeans with holes on the knees a pair of greenish gray tennis and a army green long sleeved shirt that he pulled up to his elbows.  
"So what are we gonna do today? And where's your brother?" I asked as sat beside him on the couch beside him and watched the TV as he zapped trough them at an unbelievable speed  
"hmm I dunno want to take a walk around the complex with the dogs?" he said looking at me as his finger was still stuck on the next channel button. And pointed at the window that faced the front lawn where my father's guard dogs lied lazily, guard dogs was probably the right word to describe them since they didn't do anything at all…but they were threatening at least…kind of, the oldest was Kira a Rottweiler that was probably the cutes, sweetest creature in the whole universe, then it was Gray a German shepherd that was very big for his race and as dumb as a plank but was still loving and cute to everything and last was Chipp, the only dog that was actually guarding the house, he was a 1 year old Beagle who thought he was bigger and stronger than anything else in the planet. I smiled as I saw Chipp jumping on Gray who just lifted his head to stare at the little dog before lying back again.  
"sure, you can show me around the new houses" I said smiling, he looked back at me from the TV  
" hmmm…okeeey lets go" we stood up and I rushed to the doorway taking Chip's leash and throwing Gray's ad Kira's at Jake  
"Woooow not fair why do I have to take the two big ones? "he complained as I hooked the leash to Chipp's collar  
"because you're a big strong man and they'll probably run off like hell hounds dragging me along if I tried" I said petting Kira who sad by my side as she saw I was putting Chipp's leach on, Jake sighted and hooked the two dogs and walked down the street, Mike walked out of the house with his hair still dripping and caught up with us taking Gray's leash of Jakes hands.  
"So where are we going?" he asked as soon as he pulled gray's leas has the enormous dog tried to rush down the street.  
"Hmm around?" I said pointing towards the isolated houses at the end of the street; they seemed awfully further than they had last night.  
"Why all the way over theeere" mike whined as if I asked them to walk me to the next city or something.  
" I want to get to know the neighbors!" I said as I let Chipp run a bit ahead of us.  
" aaah if that's what you want we can go see Evan and Lyla's kids they're nice, they live on that house over there " Mike said pointing at one of the houses in the end of the street smiling a bit  
"most of them.." Jake added, I looked at him and then back at Mike who explained  
" well Evan an Lyla adopted 4 teens a few years ago, Sarah, Nick Alex and Joseph" he said counting with his fingers.  
"Sarah and Nick are awfully nice, but the two older ones are…well their not very sociable" he said shrugging a little.  
" also their not the only people our age that live around, Charley and Joy live in the first house" Jake started gesturing towards said house.  
"Joy is Evan's sister and she also decided to adopt rather than have children of her own, so she has Tyler who's a great guy" Mike said as Jake was pulled forward by Kira who fallowed Chipp, who was far ahead, closely.  
"..And Rachel" the elder brother added with a big smile making me roll my eyes.  
" she must be quite the girl" I said looking at Mike  
"she's…not bad" he said shrugging with a smile.  
"WHAT? Common! She's like the sexiest thing since sex!"  
"neeh…trust me sex is not that sexy" I joked and guessed both Jake and Mike took my little joke very seriously since the stopped right there to stare at me with wide eye  
" KIDDING!" I said laughing lightly as I walked ahead of them.  
" jeez scaring your poor cousins like that" Jake said putting an arm around me  
"what's the big deal? I means what were you gonna do if I had a boyfriend and eventually had sex with him?" I said looking at both of them.  
" beat the crap out him that's what I'd do" Jake said laughing, I looked at Mike.  
" and you? Are you crazily jealous like your muscle head brother here?" I said hitting softly Jake's ribs with my elbow.  
"Nah, it your life I was just surprised since you never mentioned any boyfriend on your mails" he said patting my head with a sweet smile.  
"What mails? "Jake said looking at me.  
"I wrote to Mike almost daily for the past years….I didn't' want to louse contact with you guys" I explained and Jake stared at his brother with a bit of anger in his eyes.  
" I told you but you never pay attention to me!" mikes said moving a step away from us, I laughed and pushed Jake away from his little brother.  
"that's ok past is past and I won't need to write mails to you guys so we can talk since I live across the street " I said patting Jake's broad shoulder; without noticing we had walked all the way to the house of that apparently huge family and a voice called as we walked by.  
" hey Mikey who's that?" a woman's voice it was soft and silky but still strong enough to hear, I looked up and saw a girl about my age with long brownish blonde hair falling perfectly to her waist sitting on the roof that covered the porch, her long legs partially bent to so she could rest her elbows on her knees and still keep herself from sliding down, her finely shaped face resting on her hands, she was wearing a pair of jean shorts that covered up to her knee and a tight navy blue tank top wit spaghetti straps that had light blue butterfly patterns on it.

The girl slowly glided to the edge of the roof and jumped to the stair case, I could swear Jake's eyes were about to pop out of his head but as soon as I turned to look at him he was looking completely cool.  
"So, got yourself a girlfriend finally?" she said her hands on her narrow waist as she eyes Jake.  
"Eh? Ahh no, no nonoooooooo she's not…" Jake started babbling trying to find words, one could have seen his brain melting at the mere sight of this girl I assumed was Rachel, I sighted and pushed Jake back as I approached the girl  
"I'm their cousin Elle, nice to meet you" I said stretching my hand to her, she smiled and shook it right away  
"I'm Rachel, so you're the famous!" she said with a light giggle  
"Famous?" I asked a little confused  
"well your father told our parents you were coming to high school here….and has been reminding them for the past month or so, so they reminded us too as much as you dad reminded them" she explained her light blue eyes lighting up with the sudden conversation, I couldn't help but laugh a bit  
"yeah he gets all worked up over the smallest things " I said smiling she smiled back the most beautiful smile I'd ever seen  
"hey wanna come in?" she said pointing at the house at her side.  
"Hmm it's II mean with the dogs and all… "I said I felt Jake pinching my arm as hard as he could, I tried my best not to whine sine I obviously knew what he was trying to tell me.  
"But the dogs can stay outside right Elle? I mean they're always outside you house" he said looking at me with anger  
"hey it ok why don't you too go in and I'll take them back to your house? " Mike said taking the leash from his hand pushing him a little away from me and talking Chipp's leash too  
" yeah that'll be great Mike thanks" I smiled at him  
" don't take too long" Jake said as Rachel pulled my hand and tugged me softly up the stairs.

The house's temperature was mucho nicer than the blazing sun outside and I felt a wave of cool air coming from inside as soon as I walked through the door, the light smell of cookies and cinnamon filled the large living room Rachel guided me to, there were 8 people on the living room who didn't pay attention to Rachel or me as soon as we came in; near by the window that faced the street was a big TV where 2 guys played car racing video games the first one a huge guy with short slightly curly copper hair falling a bit over his dark chocolate eyes who seemed to be doing awfully good in the game mean while his game partner was a small slender kid probably no more than 13 or 14 years old with raven black hair and big ice blue eyes was struggling to keep up, mean while other two watched with bored expression the first one that caught my eye was a tall guy with sand like blonde hair and caramel eyes who seemed really skinny or at least I thought so since he was wearing a thick gray jacket and a black hoddie underneath, that made me wonder how was he not having a heat stroke, the second one wore normal summer clothes but the odd color of his hair caught my attention, it was blue, but not an electric blue just dark blue with black ends on the locks that framed his sharp face.

on the other side of the room where 3 girls sitting around a table talking among them, the smaller of them start laughing a few seconds after we walked in, her laughter was a light enjoyable sound like that of a small child, her bright blonde hair held up in two piggy tails fell in light waves to the middle of her back and her light brown eyes looked right at us a few seconds after she noticed our presence.  
" aaah Rache who's that?" the girl asked in a sweet voice tilting her head to the side in wonder, I felt all the eyes of the room in me at that moment.  
" this is Elle! "Rachel answered in a happy tone.  
"Aaah finally here, thought you'll end up a legend among our parents" the huge guy playing said standing up and walking towards me and stretching his hand towards me.  
"I'm Tyler, is nice to meet you" he said smiling and squeezing softly my hand. He turned towards the others and gestured with his hand as he named them all.  
" the little dwarf there is Nick.." he started making the little boy frown and jump from his seat walking up to his side while his head was barely above Tyler's elbow.  
"I'm not a dwarf! It's you who's gigantic!" he said outing adorably and then turning to me  
"Hay it's nice to meet you "he smiled as he ran happily back to his seat  
"that's Alex and that's Joseph" he gestured to the blue haired guy and then to the one who was extremely dressed, they barely nodded our way and I took it as their friendlier greeting.  
"over there we have Sarah our other pipsqueak , Jessica and Carol" he said gesturing towards the last two girls, the first one had short black hair with dark pink highlights and honey eyes she waved towards me smiling nicely while the second girl that had long wavy brown hair down to her hips and dark brown eyes walked up towards me.  
" that's my boyfriend right over there so if you try anything funny I'll Kill you" she said pointing at Joseph who barely waved our way, I slowly took a step back while everyone else in the room stared at her with wide eyes  
"don't worry I'll stay away…" I said a bit confused "you're all adopted right?" I asked Tyler without noticeing the rudeness of my question.  
"well yeah you could say that" he said smiling; I looked back at Carol who was still looking at me with an angry glare.  
" seriously I won't try to steal your boyfriend, I swear " I said putting my hands defensively between us, she looked at him and back at me and hugged me.  
"Okeeey then we can be friends!" She said tightening the hug a bit, I hugged her back awkwardly and patted her back, I couldn't help but inhale her scent when I gasped for the random actions of the girl, she smelled really nice, I couldn't tell exactly what she smelled like but it was sweet and soft, a kind of smell you don't grow tired of. I slowly pulled away from her hug and she walked back to where she was sitting a little ago still with several eyes on her.  
"Hmm….someone's missing" Rachel said counting heads in the living room.  
"Samuel's on the shower" Sarah said flipping through a magazine, Rachel sighted  
"seriously he has a shower in his house doesn't he? He's gonna hear me now!" she walked outside and I fallowed her as she walked up the stairs, she was not all the way up when I heard a voice that for some reason made my stomach twist

**CLIFHANGGER! XD not that much but yaayzy new chapter after like 6 months of absolutely nothing! You must really hate me xDD!  
Well I hope you liked it ^^!**


	3. Pizzaboy

I looked at Rachel who was talking to someone upstairs, I could hear a male voice, deep and melodious, for some reason it made my stomach twist and turn from time to time, I looked at Jake who was staring at the screen as Tyler and Nick played some more. My eyes wondered around the living room again, everyone minding their own business, I stood there not knowing what to do so I leaned towards Jake as I started feeling a bit dizzy.  
"Hey Jake, I'll go check what Mike's doing and I'll be back later wait for me around here?" I said loud enough for some of the others to hear me, if I just left Jake would have felt obligated to fallow me and he would never forgive me for pulling him out of Rachel's house so abruptly, he smiled and nodded while Rachel walked a few steps down looking at me  
"awwm leaving already?" she said with a little pout, she was very beautiful, all of her movements where graceful and full of life, I got why Jake liked her.  
"I'll go check on Mike and be back in a while, keep an eye on Jake for me will you?" I said smiling, she smiled back and walked outside.

To be truth, I was feeling dizzy since Carol's smell had got stuck to my nose and as sweet and nice it had been at first it was making my head hurt and my throat burn a bit, I took a deep breath as I was out and walked towards my house, the way back seemed much shorter than I thought, I came to our porch and saw Chipp, Gray and Kira sitting there in the shade and trough the window I saw Mike sitting on the kitchen counter talking to my dad, I walked inside casually  
" …I dunno … it still early, I mean, giving her some time here to adjust would be good" I heard Mike say as I walked to the kitchen  
"hey what are you talking about?" I asked smiling at both of them, my dad looked at me in surprise, then he eyed Mike and then me again  
"your dad wants us to go on a field trip a couple of weeks but I guess it would be better if we stayed here so you can adjust to the neighbors and well the rest of town before anymore trips" mike said after taking a sip of the water bottle he had in his hand. I nodded and smiled.  
"If it's something you do like every year o something?" I said looking trough the cabinets around me looking for something to ease my headache.  
"Hmm…no, we go now and then but it's not like a tradition or something, what are you looking for" my dad said fallowing with my eyes.  
"something for my head…this girl back at the Coles house had this really nice perfume but it was a bit too strong for me" I said as I found a small red toper-ware where my dad stored all the medicines and took an analgesic, Mike offered my his bottle and I smiled at him as I took it to help me swallow the pill.  
"you've always had such a sensitive nose" my dad said with a smile" I remember when you where little you always complained when you mom took you into perfume and soap stores, that sort of thing"  
"I thought Alice was the one who did that…" Y said taking another sip of water before giving the bottle back to Mike.  
"Well when one of you complained so did the other" he said chuckling  
"so who of Rachel's family you got to meet?"  
"Hmm All of them I think…their hm… "I tried to remember all of them in my head while I took a glass and served myself some more water  
"8 I think? I don't know who is who's brother or sister but they all seem very nice….even thou I didn't expect to be threatened in my first day here…they all seem nice" I smiled remembering Carol's random actions.  
"threatened?" my father asked with wide eyes  
"yeah this girl Carol said that if I ever got close to her boyfriend she'd kill me" I said shrugging a little, Mike laughed.  
" she tells that to all the new girls she meets, she's really nice actually" he said jumping of the counter where he was sitting.  
"hmm where's Jake?" my dad asked after a while  
" I left him back there…he seemed to be having a good time so I said I'd be back after checking on you" I said referring my last words to Mike, " but I'm feeling a little sick to my stomach…" I said as the dizziness came back at me after a few minutes of being standing there.  
" aah that's right…I have some stuff to talk with James, I'll tell them you weren't feeling too good and didn't want to worry anyone so you decided to stay here" Mike said as he walked out.  
"Who's James?" I asked sitting down and holding my head with my hands as I felt my stomach twist a little.  
" he's Jessica, Carol and Samuel's foster father, Mike's been helping him with some work in the backyard…are you ok?" my dad leaned towards me looking a bit worried.  
"Yeah I'm fine…it's just adjusting to the high here compared to living back in the coast got a bit to me I think…." I said standing up again "I'll just go take a nap" I ruffled his hair and walked up to my room and lied in my bed for a while till I felt asleep.

I woke up in a clearing, I felt surrounded but I couldn't see who was hiding in the forest's darkness, I moved forward and the creatures seemed to hide from me as I heard the sound of leaves being shaken and steps rushing away from me, I fallowed the noise as fast as I could and as I felt I was catching up I was pushed down to the ground by that angel that had appeared on my dreams earlier, my eyes fallowed him as he dashed after the unknown creature I was about to run after them when a loud beeping sound and cold water woke me up, I jumped out of my bed as the fire alarm was on and water was falling down from the ceiling, as I rushed out I could've sworn I saw a figure on my window frame but when I turned back to look all I could see was my uncle's house barely visible from the lack of light, I had slept a lot apparently, I rushed downstairs fallowing my father's voice that cursed from the Kitchen where all the smoke was coming from  
"Dad what the hell is going on?" I noticed he was standing by the stove and the smoke was coming from a pan, I sighted and filled a glass of water and threw it on the pan as I took it from the fire.  
"What are you doing?" he asked Staring at me in horror  
"keeping you from burning the house!"  
" I had it under control!" he said crossing his arms over his chest and pouting as the fire extinguishers kept on soaking everything in the house.  
"…sure, what were you cooking anyway?" I said staring at the piece of coal stuck to the bottom of the pan.  
" some chicken and Veggies…" he stabbed the black substance with a fork and then tried to pull it out with no success  
"who wants some pizza?" he said smiling happily, I shrugged and smiled  
"sure why not, I'll go change clothes…if I still have anything dry in my room" I teased, I went up and took my hair dryer that was safely stored inside one of my bags in the closet still and started drying some of my books before they were completely lost, fortunately I stored most of my belongings in plastic boxes under my bed so they were intact, I took all my bed sheets down to the laundry room and into the dryer while my dad was trying to get the couch to dry with the leaf blower, he had crazy ideas sometimes…I walked by his side and taped his shoulder making him jump a little  
" god Elle don't sneak up on me like that!" he said turning the blower of  
" yeah I'm gonna take a shower let me know when the pizza is here ok?" I giggled a little and he nodded going back to drying the couch and other stuff around, I went upstairs and walked to the end of the hall, right when I passed by my room I could've sworn I saw the same shadow on the window frame, I did a double take but as soon as my eyes meet the window frame, there was just darkness outside, I shrugged it off and went to have shower, I decided to dry my pjs as well before I showered so I took my bed sheets and blankets out of the machine and placed my slightly damped clothes inside , I went back up and threw the warm bundle of fabrics on my bed and walked to the bathroom.  
_It sure is nice to take a shower when it's so cold_, I thought as I looked around the cabinets for a towel, I heard the rain lightly hitting the roof above me and sighted, it was odd that it rained like this in summer but it was better than hot nights.

I showered and went downstairs took my pj pants and a tank top from the dryer and went upstairs to get dressed, I stretched the blankets and sheets over the bed a while after I was done my dad called me down since the delivery was here, I went down and he was looking around the dining table that was an utter mess with a bunch o papers and delivery boxes  
"tell the pizza guy to come in while I look for my wallet ok?" he said while he threw a bunch of papers to the floor by mistake  
" how can you live like this?" I joked as I walked to the door way to ask the guy inside, he was soaked from head to toes and was wearing a cap with the pizza restaurant logo so I couldn't see his face very well,  
"come on in please" I said smiling a bit"  
"crazy weather huh?" he said, his voice deep and a bit husky, it seemed very familiar, he walked inside and handed me the box, I took it to the kitchen to find my dad's wallet by the dishwasher, I sighted  
"dad I found your wallet" I said walking back to where the delivery guy was, he had taken the cap of and shook his head a bit sending a bit of water all over the place, I jumped a little as the cold water touched my still warm skin.  
" aah sorry," he said looking at me and taking part of his raven hair of his gorgeous face and smiling at me the sexiest smile I'd ever seen, suddenly I smelt Carol's perfume again just it was a bit different this time, it was less sweet but that didn't make it less enjoyable, I started feeling dizzy again and rubbed my eyes a bit I felt a cold hand in my shoulder but for some reason I didn't move away from the freezing touch  
"are you ok?" he said looking at me with a bit of worry on his emerald eyes, I couldn't help but smile.  
"Yeah I just think I'm getting sick or something, he smiled a little and closed the door.  
"well you shouldn't walk around like that, it gets pretty chilly at night here" he with his godlike smile still on, my dad walked to the doorway from the kitchen and stared at my gorgeous delivery man  
"Samuel what are you doing here?" he said a bit of anger in his voice.  
"Delivering your pizza" he said as a matter of factly and I showed him the big box.  
"I mean why are you delivering pizza?"  
"My parents think they're spoiling me way to much…so they decided I should get my own money…" he replied shrugging a little.  
"Well get out! You shouldn't be here" he said taking the pizza from my hands and taking a bill from his wallet  
"Dad! That's so rude!" I stared at him in disbelief, he usually was nice and happy but this was really not like him, Samuel stared at him with wide eyes.  
"well she invited me in so… you told her to, didn't you?" he said smiling while taking the change and giving it to me since my Dad had his arms crossed over his chest and looked pretty angry.  
"Well I'll be taking my leave, hope you get better, good night Aaron" he said walking out.  
"Thanks" I said closing the door behind him and turning to stare at my Dad with my hand on my hips  
"what's up with you?" he was too busy taking a large piece of pizza of the box and eating it while walking towards the kitchen .  
"Dad!" I followed him and now he was looking at me with a confused look  
"what?" He said still with dome pizza in his mouth  
"why did you do that?" I said the box away from him getting a whimper in response.  
"Whaaaat?"  
"He might be just a delivery boy but you can't talk like that to people!" I said snapping the box close as he reached out for another piece  
"it's not cuz he's a delivery boy! It's just that in his family you invite them over once and then they think they can come and go around your house whenever they want!" he said waving his arms over his head  
"oh don't be ridiculous!" I heard the door opening  
"hey Aaron I miss counted your change!" Samuel's voice came from the doorway and into the kitchen  
"here you go" he said handing me two dollars and smiling at my dad while he turned bright red  
"GET OUT OF MY HOUSE" he said pushing Samuel who just laughed at his reaction.  
"I must have forgotten to lock the door "I said giggling a bit when he came back.  
"That just proved my point! You can be friends with them all you want but please don't bring all of them here! I can stand Jake and Mike and well of course you but I enjoy a teen free environment okay?" he said shaking my shoulders, I looked at him raising an eyebrow and crossing my arms over my chest  
"look I don't have anything against them ok? You can go ahead and be friends with all of them I'd love that because they're really nice, but I need my grownup space!" said the man who owns one of each gaming console known to human kind.  
"Dad you're barely a grown up yourself! And what kind of person can't invite their friends over?"  
"I'm not saying don't invite your friend over…" he said scratching the back of his head  
"no…just don't invite the neighbors over!" I added with sarcasm.  
"Exactly! Okay it sounds terrible when you say it that way…but you got my point so we're good!" He took the pizza box and placed several slices on a plate before taking them to the now dry living room, I served myself some pizza and juice and fallowed him, it was so random, they way he acted towards them, they were nice and I could befriend them but bringing them home was a big no-no…I knew there was something he didn't want to tell me, but I left it there, I really didn't want this to turn into a big argument, so I decided to keep my mind busy with the few memories I had of my gorgeous neighbor and it wasn't till that moment I realized something I should've noticed the second I saw him…

Samuel what the man I'd been dreaming of the past days.


	4. That house by the lake

**Author's note: Hello people! I want to thank all of you for your reviews...and if you haven't reviewed yet then do it! I discovered that the more people let me know they like the story the more I want to post a new chapter…BUT! That's not why I'm here to talk to you my beloved readers….the reason iiiis! That I'm a complete idiot and didn't realize that Elle couldn't possibly be starting High school being 17 years old…so She's starting her sophomore year! I'm sorry for making mistakes like this…please bare with me and my cluelessness…  
luv~ Leil  
**

* * *

The days went on quickly and before I knew there were just two more weeks of summer vacations, I had spent most of my time with Jake and Mike of course, but I was still curious about the neighbors, I visited them now and then, since Rachel and I were growing to be good friends so I was already used to visit them two or three times a week at least, but there was still something alluring and just different about them all.

It was Saturday around 3 pm  
"…so I was thinking we could go see what they're doing…" Jake said as Mike and I stared at the TV on their house's living room  
"yeah…I don't think so" Mike said stretching a bit while I jumped over the couch and landed by his side  
"Elle? You wanna go right?" Jake said looking at me.  
"hmm nope, I went to the mall with Rachel and Carol yesterday "  
"SO?"  
" they left this morning for a camping trip" Said Grace who walked by picking a few papers from the table she had been working on all morning, Jake turned to look at her mother with wide eyes.  
"Why I'm always the last one to know of this things?"  
"Cuz you never ask..." I said taking the remote from Mike's hand  
"…or you never listen" Mike added trying to take the remote back as I pushed him with one hand on his face.  
"Do they usually leave like that? " I asked after I zapped trough a few channels and gave the remote back to Mike  
"well, yeah they usually take a trip before school starts and in holydays" Grace said packing some more thing into a box.  
"What are you doing? "I asked as I walked to the kitchen for a drink.  
"Hm just getting ready for the new school year, I have to go get my classroom ready the next week" I nodded and walked into the kitchen to get myself some juice.  
"Hmm do you want some help with that?" I said as I walked out again, Grace smiled at me while Jake and Mike stood behind her waving their arms over their heads and shaking their heads no, I blinked a couple of times looking at them.  
"That would be great Elle! I just have to get some decoration done and put the materials in place so you'd help me a lot" She said with a big smile.

I had forgotten she was the art teacher in middle school and since the middle school building and the high school building where very close I could get to know the place before it was crowded with people.

I spent most of the day with Mike and Jake, we went to the mall, watched a movie and then headed back, I had talked with Grace so I'd start working with her on Monday, I went back home feeling exhausted for some reason, I greeted my dad and headed upstairs to take a shower before going to bed, as I walked by the hallway I noticed something was of in my room I looked at the window and once more there was nothing there as always I looked around everything was in place but there was still an odd feeling I looked at the window and everything was normal then I noticed that what had caught my attention was precisely that there was nothing there to begin with, so many times at night I had seen a figure there and now it wasn't there in the corner of my eye to startle me every time I looked away, I shook my head and laughed at myself, I was being silly,_ who would ever worry about not seeing some random shadow on the corner of their eye?_ I said at myself as I gathered my pijamas and headed to the bathroom. I took a quick shower and headed straight to my room, one again no shadow on the corner of my window.

I closed the black out and headed to my bed, _I must be going crazy _I thought while I covered my head with the blankets, I had seen that shadow daily and it didn't mean a thing but now it was gone and I felt uneasy, something was missing, I felt almost as if something was taken away from me.

* * *

Samuel POV

it was about midday, we had been in the summer house by the lake a few hours from town about 4 hours ago and I hadn't got enough will to do much more than take my bag of the car, walk to my room and lye on the bed, after staring long enough into the wooden ceiling I decided to take a walk, I had been here every year for such a long time, there wouldn't be much changes, but there was still new neighbors_,_ the thought brought a smile to my face, I got up and started throwing things out of my bag till I found a swim suit, black with two red stripes to the left and it was long enough to cover down to my knees, I changed and walked downstairs taking a look around the living room, I found Joseph lying on a couch in the darkest corner he could find, I sighted _kids this days staying in all day_, I smile at the glare he send me as he saw me.  
"What's up with you now?" I said opening the door  
"Jealousy, that's what's up…" he said stretching on the couch as the light crawled down the floor, I moved aside as Carol dashed in soaked wet and lied by Joseph's side, I looked back at them.  
"What for? You seem like a pretty lucky bastard to me" I said as I slammed the door behind me.  
"Watch it Samuel, I like this house and we know it's very old so please don't go around demolishing it" I head Evan's voice and turned towards him, there sitting on a chair in the porch he looked at me over his newspaper.  
"Sorry, it's just your ungrateful child pisses me of…his problems will vanish with time and jet he can't appreciate what he already has" I muttered the last words to me but I was very sure he heard me as a smile crawled to his lips.  
"I'll go out for a walk" I said waving as I walked towards the lake.  
"Try not to freak out he neighbors" I heard Evan's voice behind me; I smiled and raised my hand for him to se I'd got the message.

There were a couple more houses around the lake I could see there was a family, a mini-van with a boat attached to it; I sighted as I heard screams and the sound of someone running over the wooden planks, I liked that house when it was empty, quiet and lacking two little brats running around. I kept on walking towards the second house, much more quiet but I could see an old car parked in front, I discarded this one as I knew that old couple who came by every summer would be there and headed straight to my favorite, always empty house right at the edge of the lake, I jumped into the cold water of the lake leading towards that huge abandoned house, I had found a few summers back small trap door under a pier like semicircle that was right over the lake, it wasn't hard to get over the fence and inside but It was much more suspicious and I had already agreed on not freaking the neighbors, so I dived into the dark water and among the aquatic flora that became much more dense as I came closer to the house, it took me a few minutes until I got the trapdoor opened and then slide to the house through a window, the house was still as I had left it a year ago, it was old and dusty everywhere but it reminded me of my family, my old home, the tall walls, the polished floors, it was very much like them.

I walked around the living room, everything was covered with white sheets as the last time but there were still little things that had changed: there where small cracks on the olive green walls and the humidity of the lake was starting to rot the wooden floor, I walked around the house and saw something that I was certainty not expecting, there on the dusty floor were little pew prints leading to the second store of the house, I fallowed them and was guided to the source of the trial by a small noise among an box filled with some news papers.  
As I approached the box a small ball of fur peaked trough the papers towards me with big yellow eyes, the kitten crawled back into the box as it saw me, I could hear him ruffle through the papers, I moved by the box and moved a few papers to find the little creature lying at a corner staring at me with wide eyes, I smiled at the little white and black bundle as I placed the paper back on top of it wan walked downstairs and took the sheet on a leather couch and lied down, a few minutes later I heard some noises upstairs and saw the little cat jumping down the stairs and staring at me as he reached the last step, its stood still as I stared, I turned back to the large window door before the couch I was seating in and heard the kittens light purr as he tried to climb the couch, I looked down at it as it stared back at me and stood on his back paws as he placed its front ones in my leg and meowed, I picked it up and placed it beside me in the couch.

For long time, I stood there as the colors outside of my little sanctuary faded into the darkness of the night, I saw Alex's figure crawling out of the trap door and coming inside with swift movements.  
"What's with you and this place?" he said standing before me.  
"It's so very like _him_…plus I found a kitty" I said as I picked up the sleeping kitten from my lap, Alex sighted and stared at me, he knew the matter was not to be discussed.  
"Let's go" he said with a sight as I stood up and dragged the sheet back in place.

He jumped first into the water and looked up from me to fallow  
"I'll go walking" I said showing the little cat to Alex again, he just shrugged before disappearing in the dark water, I walked to the little fence and out of the property, I walked slowly around the lake slowly with the warm bundle of fur in my hands, as I was coming near to the house I heard steps coming closer and saw Nick jumping from some bushes towards me  
"Can I see it?" he said as he stood before me with wide eyes that looked at me and then to the cat.  
"awwwm you're gonna keep it right?" he said with a big smile as he moved a finger towards the kitten and the little creature tried to try and catch it with it tiny paws, Nick squealed softly and scratched the kittens belly with his usual bright smile

" you can have it if you want…" I said offering the kitten to Nick who jumped slightly on his spot before taking it and carrying it like it was a newborn baby.  
"Thanks! I'll take good care of it ok? " he said before turning walking towards the house, as I followed him the kitten crawled up Nick's shoulder and stared at me while we walked, it would be weird having a pet, but it was even weirder that the little animal got close to me in the first place, I was probably among the whole family the least prone to be loved by animals, that was mainly why I gave it to Nick.

He was the nature conscious one on the family, ever since I knew him animals where his thing, he knew anything and everything there was to know and even if he was a spoiled brat most of the time he was responsible when he needed to be, we walked into the house a bunch of heads turned towards us when the kitten meowed softly trying to catch a stray lock of Nicks hair while the boy just smiled in amusement as he watched.

"What's that?" Evan said staring at us  
" he's a Rottweiler of course" I said as Nick just looked at Evan with puppy eyes as he knew they'll try to persuade him to leave his new pet, Evan sighted and looked at Lyla.  
" don't look at me, once he gives the look I'm done " she said walking to the kitchen.  
"But it's dirty and I bet it's full of tics or something!" he said looking at Nick who just pouted even more.  
" that's riiight…I bet you don't want any blood sucking parasites in your house…" I said with a wide grin, Tyler, Alex and Jessica laughed, while Joy just shook her head with a tinny smile.  
"What's the big deal about the pet anyway? Normal people own pets why wouldn't we?" James said over his book as he grinned at Evan that devil like smile the gray eyes man used when persuasion was needed.  
"Fine…just get it checked by a vet or something…." Nick smiled and hugged the kitten softly while he went to the kitchen.

A while later Nick pulled Evan up from his chair and made him drive him to the nearest town to get anything a cat could need, I decided it was a good time as ever to get some sleep, it was around 8:30 and it was getting pretty boring down there so I just went to my room in the upper level and changed to a pair of sweat pants and lied on my bed till I feel asleep.

* * *

Elle POV

I woke up early and tried to remember what I had dreamed of, it felt weird having a dream less night, not that I remembered every dream I ever had but at least could remember random pictures or parts of my dreams every morning, today there was absolutely nothing and as much as it made me feel crazy, I knew there was something off about it.

* * *

**Yaaay new chapter! I just wanted to give a little glimpse of Samuel and his family, also yaaay for unspecific places! should I keep the story in Elle's POV or alternate between characters? Should I make it a 3****rd**** person narration? Tell me what you think! Hope you liked it!**


	5. Odd little things

**Author's Note:**

**You people must HATE me with burning passion… I mean GOD! My last update was when? AUGUST? I'm a little ashamed of uploading this after so long, I'm sorry! I really am! So I tried to work hard to give you a long chapter this time!...well if you think over 4000 words is long then I did a good job! If not…well what can I tell you? I'll try harder next time! And I'll also try not to take so long updating I pwomise OTL.**

There were two days left before school started, I had been helping Grace with the decoration and setting the materials for her class room, she's the middle school teacher and had a really nice room in the 3rd floor of the art department, she had a whole wall dedicated to the work her students decided to leave for her, but the school decided to repaint the whole room so she had to take them down and now I was putting them back in place, there were some that were really good and then were the ones Nick Cole left her, she told me he had been in her art class the for his last year of middle school and was starting his freshman year with Mike, everything he did was incredible, some of them weren't realistic but they were really impressive, the colors and shapes changed from one to other but there was always something that was almost like a signature that gave nick's work away.  
"was he in art lessons before or something?" I asked as I pasted some of his drawings on the wall scattered around with other drawings.  
"ah? Oh Nick, no he said he was self-taught, very impressive right?" she said standing by my side and staring at the wall with a smile.  
"yeah but they are all so very different…" I said looking at a bunch she had packed in a folder.  
"well I asked him about that and he said he liked to draw his dreams, sometimes they were colorful, or black and white or just very dark" she said as she took some of them and pasted them around the wall, I nodded and stared for a moment into a drawing that was half way done made with light pastel color pencils, it almost seemed to glow with the light colors contrasting with the newly painted dark green wall. it was the drawing of a room, there were several stacks of CDs, several books lying around the lightly colored wooden floor, a couple of black beanbags in a corner, a king sized bed and several windows facing an un colored forest, I stared with wide eyes at it and took it off the wall, Grace watched me and approached me once again.  
"Do you like it? I bet he'll be a great designer one day" she said with a smile.  
"Can I keep this?" I said without taking my eyes of the picture I held.  
" hmm I don't know Elle it's a gift, I can't just give it away…" she said after a short pause.  
"Please? If he asks you can tell him you gave it to a new fan of his work" I said looking at her smiling, she sighted and nodded.  
" fine, fine but if he gets angry at me I expect you to stand for me okay? Now finish there so we can go home" I smiled and nodded pasting the rest of the drawings and keeping Nick's drawing with me all the time so I wouldn't leave it.

"So, why did you take that one? It's not even complete, don't get me wrong its great but I don't know, he has much better pieces" Grace said as I once more got lost in the drawing as she drove towards the complex.  
" it's not about it being good or not…it's just…I don't know, I just saw it and it took me away, I'm gonna end up coating it with plastic and pasting it in my room" I said laughing at the last part, Grace smiled and looked at me.  
"you have such an odd taste Ellie" she said, there was a weird look in her eyes as she faced forward when she spoke, somehow like she was looking way beyond everything that was visible to me.

we got back the complex just in time for lunch, my dad had successfully cooked stakes, rice and made a salad, we had lunch in the dining table for the first time since the last time he let me cook something descent instead of ordering a pizza, which we actually didn't do ever since my gorgeous neighbor had gone away with his family, but we were still lazy and ordered other kind of junk food often.  
"From now on we'll have at least two decent meals a day" he proclaimed as he served the grilled meat on two plates and divided the rice in two different portions, I handed him the salad with a smile.  
" breakfast and dinner?" I suggested as I served him some soda and a glass of iced tea for me.  
"Hmm I guess since I don't know what kind of junk you'll eat at school" ha said gesturing with his fork as he spoke.  
" come on the cafeteria food can't be _that_ bad" I said with a light giggle as I sat across from him.  
"Well Jake complains all the time and you know he'll eat about anything" he said as he cut the meat, we kept on eating and talking for while until a few cards drove in front of our house.  
"I thought you said they'll come back a day before classes began" I said looking at the window over his shoulder.  
"Well they come back early when they have some sort of problem…or just wanted to come back early for the kids that are starting high school" he said without paying too much attention to it.

A few minutes later while I was putting the dishes in the dishwasher the bell rang.  
"Dad, the door" I yell as I placed the last plate in the dishwasher and closed the door for it to start.  
"can you get it I'm busy" he said, he was obviously lying in the couch watching tv but if I said anything he'd probably bother me when I was actually doing something important, so I got the door to see a tall man with dark hair and green grayish eyes.

"Hello I'm James, you must be Elle is nice to meet you, is Aaron home?" he said with a British accent stretching his hand towards me, but for some reason his hand didn't came further that he door frame making me take a step closer to shake his hand.  
"Give me a second I'll call my dad" I said as I stepped back inside leaving the door opened.  
"Dad one of the neighbors is here" I said poking his ribs for him to stand up.  
"Who?" he said looking at me lazily.  
"James" I said, he stood up in a second and walked to the door I followed him closely, James handed my dad a big package wrapped in paper, my father took it and stared at James in wonder.  
"its fish, we caught a lot in the lake and I don't think even us can eat that much, so we thought we'd bring you some" he said with a smile, my dad nodded and looked back at him.  
"so did you have any troubles? Since you are back early I thought…"  
"hm no, just a cat..." James said with a shrug, I saw my dad's back tense as he pressed his lips in a thin line, James stared at him for a moment.  
"Yeah, Samuel found it in an abandoned house and you know how kids are about bringing random pets home" he said gesturing his hands about as he spoke, my dad laughed as he relaxed back again.  
"yeah I know what you mean, Elle and Alice use to bring lizards and toads and that sort of thing home all the time" he said handing me the fish.  
"go put that in the fridge will you?" he said smiling at me, I frowned a little as I knew he was kicking me out of the conversation, I went to the kitchen and left the huge fish in the fridge, I had to move lot of stuff around but I finally got to fit it without having to cut it into pieces.  
"Hey Elle, we're going out for a drink, do you mind staying home by yourself?" I heard my dad said from the entrance.  
"yeah no problem" I said as I served myself some more Iced tea, the door closed and I hear my dad's car engine starting and driving away from the house, I took my tea and went upstairs to my room to my computer to check my mail and that sort of thing, I was there for about an hour before I heard a noise by my window, I had left the window opened but the blackout down, I stood up as I heard a couple of voices outside and pulled the blackout up in one go just to find Nick standing on the little space of roof that my window had in front of it, we both jumped a bit as we scared each other making Nick louse his balance I barely had time to reach put the window and pull him of his shirt and against the window frame.  
"God Nick what are you doing?" I said holding his arm as he grabbed the window frame with wide eyes and regaining his breath.  
"sorry, I….woah that was crazy…my cat went out of the house running and climbed to your roof through that tree I was trying to get it back.." he said when he calmed down a little.  
"aaah, I see, are you ok? Do you wanna come in for a minute? I'll help you get it after you get yourself together", he nodded and smiled, his breathing a little agitated still, I stepped away from the window still holding his arm as he walked into my room, he sat on the bed and took a deep breath.  
"God I really thought I was going down back there" he said with a chuckle.  
" Do you want something, you look a bit pale" I said looking at him  
"nah I'm fine, pale is my normal skin color" he said smiling the cutes smile I'd ever seen, I eyed him closely and he just gave deep breath closing his eyes for a moment I backed away from him as he closed his eyes, his smell was citric and a bit sweet but when I stood close to him I felt as if I had inhaled lemon juice, he must've used a very strong shampoo or something like that and I made a mental note to not stand to close to him, I heard another noise and turned to the window to see Samuel crawling to the roof in front of my window.  
"Damn it Nicholas why am I the only one who has to step in for you every time you're in trouble huh?" he mumbled as he went up to his fit to find me instead of his apparently trouble-prone cousin.  
"uuhm…hey, how are you, is Nick here?" he said scratching the back of his head awkwardly.  
"I'm fine thanks, come on in" I stepped away from the window for him to come in and so he could see Nick sitting on my bed, as he stepped in I felt a refreshing scent filling the room, it wasn't nearly as strong as nick's and it was much more appealing.  
"Well I didn't ask you for help" Nick said crossing his arms over his chest and pouting.  
"well if you tell Sarah to get help if you don't come back in 10 minutes she'll take it seriously and what do you think Jade would tell me if the little girl comes home screaming for help?" The family bickering stopped as a small black and white kitten jumped through the window and walk thought my room to the hallway.  
"That's your cat?" I asked as we all just stared at where the cat had disappeared, Nick nodded jumping of the bed and looking at me.  
"shameless little creature, we've been worried sick over her and she just walks past by us like that" Samuel said while chuckling a bit as he walked towards the hallway, Nick and I fallowed him and looked around the second floor, the cat was sitting on the window frame of the gym and stared at us as we walked in as soon as we approached it jumped out and walked over the porch's roof.  
"aaah I've been chasing her for like 20 minutes around the roof!" Nick complained with a tired expression, I smiled at him ruffling his hair a bit.  
"It's ok I'll help you, I know that rooftop like the back of my hand" I said as I walked outside and looked around until I spotted the white ball of fur that was sitting on the flat part of the roof. I walked around it and took it from behind, but it was a bit harder to walk back with the wiggling bundle in my hands so I took every step carefully until I was almost in the window, Samuel stepped out to help me in since I almost slid of while I was almost there.  
"Thanks Elle!" nick jumped and smiled happily when I handed him the cat.  
"Hey no problem, if it gets back up there let me know" I said smiling  
"are you some sort of burglar or what?, you freaking walk on that roof top like it was a side walk" Samuel said staring at me  
"aah it nothing I used to play tag with Alice up there all the time" I said shrugging  
"that sounds potentially fatal" Nick said looking at me as he petted the kitten  
"well we learned were to step and were not to after a few accidents, it was a lot of fun.." both of them stared at me with wide eyes.  
"We were young and bored!"  
"And incredibly lucky too" Samuel said smiling.  
"Okay let's turn the subject away from me, what's your cat's name?" I said looking at Nick  
"Daisy" he said smiling and handing it to me, the kitten first tried to escape but the n settled in my arms and purred as I petted her.  
"I still think we should have named her lazy instead…." Sam said poking the little animals side till it started trying to catch his finger and then gave up.  
"You see? She's too lazy to even defend herself!" he said with a chuckle I smiled looking at the sleepy kitten in my arms.  
"Lazy Daisy sound good you know? She's really cute Nick" I said handing her back to her owner.  
"Yeah but her names is Daisy and that's that" he said petting it back to sleep, I went downstairs with them and some water in a bowl for Daisy  
"are you sure you don't want anything?" I said as I took a bottle of water out of the fridge.  
"No thank you" Sam said with a light gesture of his hand, I looked at Nick.  
"Hmm some juice please?" I took the orange juice carton out of the fridge as I saw Samuel and Nick having a silent argument that lasted as long as it took me to fetch a glass and fill it with juice  
"here you go" I smiled at Nick who smiled right back at me, Sam gave him a light glare and then shook his head as if he had tried to persuade a spoiled baby…which was not very far from what Jake and Mike had told me of Nick.  
I heard the front door opening and I was very, _very_ sure I knew the face my dad would make as soon as he saw the two cousins sitting on the kitchen counter while Nick finished his juice and petted the now awake Daisy calmly.

"hello Aaron" Nick said as my dad walked by the kitchen and stopped right in his tracks, I turned to wash a couple of dishes that were on the sink but couldn't help but look at Nick, his voice was different, not the sound of it but there was something about it the made me turn fully to stare at him, he sat calmly in the counter, ankles crossed, hands on each side of his body, leaning slightly forwards as his baby blue eyes stared at my father, his lips pulling up in a light smile, there was something different about him, in his eyes, there was a very different look from what you could usually find in those eyes, an awfully amused, cold, knowing look, the kind of look a grown man gives a teen ager when he knows said he did something… just it was now the other way around, daisy had jumped down and was now rubbing her sides against my dad's legs.  
"hey kids, who're you doing" he said after a few awkward seconds  
"hm…no t much…Elle helped us catch Daisy, she managed to get up your roof top" he said pointing at the kitten, my dad picked her up and stoked her back keeping her sight on the animal.  
"hm…that's great, did she offer you a drink or something?" Nick lifted the glass to his lips as he drunk the last bit of juice and gave a soft huh-uh.

"Good, you're father said he was looking for you" he said eying Sam now, who nodded in understanding he gave Nick a light nudge in the ribs as to tell him to get up so they could leave, my dad handed Samuel the cat and stepped back to give them space to go trough the door frame, I heard the door closing and gave loud sigh.  
"well that was weird…" I mumbled as he sat in the kitchen table.  
"yeah…it odd how they've gotten to like you so much, those two" he said without looking directly at me.  
"eh? its like the first time I've talked to Nick directly and the only other time I talked to Samuel was when he delivers the pizza…" I said sitting by his side.  
"and yet they managed to get invited in" he said a bit under his breath.  
"I really don't get the deal about inviting them in…."  
"they're well educated kids…they wont go inside a house unless they're invited….if you just walk in with them behind you they'll just stay at the door waiting, it weird but that's just how they are…but when you've invited them in once the story changes…." He sighted and ruffled hi hair in annoyance, I stared at him for while, it was so weird.

"Okay seriously I need a coherent explanation as to _why_ exactly I cant invite the neighbors over" I said standing with my arms crossed over my chest between him and the fridge as he tried to get himself a drink, he sighted pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Look, I dot actually think its wrong to invite them, its fine do so its just some of them, I don't want them here ok? Rachel or Carol, even that girl Jessica is fine, those kids are nice and polite and its totally fine if they come over, but there are some of them, like Nick I just don't want around here" I couldn't help but give him a little glare.  
"Nick? Are you serious? He's lie the sweetest thing in the world!"  
"Look I'm not telling you that you cant be friends with them! Do it they're good people just don't bring them here!" he sighted again "we've had this conversation before and I thohght we had made it clear Elle..." he gave me that I-am-not-angry-juts-disappointed look, I hated it when he did that, it was he's secret weapon, it was always sure to make me feel bad when we argued even if I was right, I shook my head a little.

"Fine, whatever its your house after all.." I wasn't feeling like keeping this up so I just went up to my room, it was all just too weird, I turned my computer on and logged into my mail and AIM I saw Mike was on, I was more than determined to find out something about this.

"Hi Ellie, you've been arguing with your dad again?" he said before I could talk to him first.  
"how did you know? You stalker!" I joked, I could see his room from my window he smiled and stuck his tongue out at me.

"I know everything! That's how I know!"

"If you know it all then why won't let me invite the neighbors over?" I asked I could see his face become more serious; things were getting much more suspicious by the minute.

"…its complicated Ellie, you just gotta trust him on this one" I scowled, I didn't even want to see his face now.

"how can I if he won't tell me anything?"

"As I said, it's complicated! you'll know eventually"

"can't you just tell me Mr. know-it-all?"

"nope, I'm not even sure my self, don't bother yourself much with this, better focus on starting school soon instead aahm you know what you're gonna wear the first day"

"how can I focus in boring old school when I've got this going on?...and why in hell would you want to know that?"

" I don't know what else do girl worry about before school? " I couldn't help but laugh.

" heeey don't laugh at me how am I supposed to know?" he complained.  
"sorry, sorry, you're just to freaking cute Mikey" I saw him turn back towards his room's door.  
"I have to go now Ellie take care, don't truble yourself with dumb stuff " he logged out before I could answer. I sighted and was about to log out when I saw Alice log in, I smiled, I hadn't talk to her in so long.  
"Aliiice! How's England?" she didn't took to long to answer.  
"Meh, its cool and all but I miss you and I want to see dad too" She was like that a lot, she loved to complain, I missed her so badly, even more since I was back with our dad.  
"Aah I miss you too, Dad's fine, but I'm sure you'll do great there"

"Yeah I'm thinking of going over for Christmas break and spring break,Have things changed a lot there?" I smiled, Alice had always been concerned about the family but insisted on going away, she contradicted herself, it was kind of charming in a way.

"Hmm not much, we have a ton of new neighbors thou"

"aaahm, anyone our age? Good looking maybe?" I had seen it coming, ever since we where younger boy was all Alice could think of, at first it had been fun to act as the other in dates and such, _good times good times. _I laughed softly and shook my head that was probably what Alice was thinking too.

"weeeeell you could say so, yeah" It not like any of the guys there, except maybe for Nick who was a little to young, was not good looking or anything but I took Carol's thread very seriously after spending some time with her the past week, and I had found out most ov them where in some sort of relationship with a kid from other of their families, actually they seemed to have a pretty closed up circle.

"You better have a freakishly hot boyfriend by the time I get there you hear me?" I couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"How come you've always been more concerned with getting me a boyfriend that getting one yourself?" she took a little to reply.

"You've always been to slow to notice people liking you or to dumb to actually make a mover! (you know I love you and al but its true Ellie) Plus I could get one anytime I wanted" I smiled, a narcissist and al Alice was a good sister, she looked out for me all the time and even when I was supposed to be the oldest, for about 8 minutes, she was the one who always protected me.

"Yeah, yeah I'll give the hot-boyfriend-thing a try"

"Don't try! DO IT! Anyway I just logged on to check something I have to go now, take care Ellie mail me often and tell me how the boyhunt goes!" Alice always knew how to make me smile, even at the weirdest things.

"Will do, will do, let me know if you catch yourself someone good" I stretched my arms over my head, it was a little late and my eyelids felt heavier by the minute, I changed to my pjs and went to the bathroom to wash my teeth, I walked back, there was no shadow in the corner again so I walked up to my window, it was dark, the light on mike's room was on and the room beside his, my uncle's office was on as well, a dim light was visible from the windows in the first floor maybe from the kitchen, but something on our side of the street caught my attention, sitting down right before my house was Nick, his back was turned towards me but I could tell it was him and I could see Daisy resting her front paws and head in his shoulder and looking around the street curiously, her yellow gaze stared up at me, I tilted my head and so did she, I smiled and opened the window knelling on the window frame and resting my hands on the roof of the porch my torso halfway out of the house.

"hey Nick" they boy jumped slightly and turned to look at me-  
"aah hey, what's up?" he smiled a little standing up, the light coming from the living room shining on the upper part of his body, he seemed tired for some reason.

"not much, what are you doing?" he looked at Daisy and for a second back at my uncle's house.

"nothing, Daisy went out again and I cane to get her, that's all" he said his eyes fixed in the kitten, his voice loud enough for me to hear but it still seemed like he was trying to be quiet, if that make any sense at all.

"hmmm, she's quite adventurous I guess " I smiled as he looked up, a bright smile in his face, it started to drizzle slightly, I looked up at the few clouds visible in the dark sky.

"I better get going now, good night Elle, have a nice dream" he said waving a little, I waved back and moved back inside my room, as soon as I closed the window and pulled the blackout down I felt like had been carrying twice my weight for the whole day, I didn't quite got why but I was exhausted, I crawled up to my bed slowly and moved under my covers, I don't think I even touched the pillow with my head before I fell asleep, I think of it now and its seems weird, but that night I did have a good dream.

**I opened this still unfinished file the other day not finding much will to write but then I thought, "well what the hell lets at least see what people think of this crap!" and I went to read the few reviews I've got so far, you people are just so great! I might only have like 7 reviews but they really gave me the will to at least finish this chapter! This is not a "give me reviews and I'll write! " thing I'm just very great full to that few people who took the time to write me even a little sentence to let me know what they thought of the story! Thank you very, very much to you all and I hope you liked this chapter, thanks for reading!**

**Leil~**


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